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The greatest martial arts movies

News
11 August 2022
Long live martial arts!
man and a woman with weapon in hand

Believe it or not, Snake Eyes is the only GI Joe who doesn't rely on guns. Instead he is highly skilled in edged weapons and martial arts. Interesting, right?

In honour of your Sunday night movie, Snake Eyes: GI Joe Origins, we take a look at martial arts movies that have Taekwondo’d their way into our hearts.

Let’s kick things off, shall we? 😁

Once Upon a Time in China

We are taking it back to the ‘90s: 1991 to be exact.  Alongside wide-leg pants, flipped-back baseball caps, hip hop and alternative rock, was martial arts. Who can forget when Jet Li starred as Chinese folk hero, Wong Fei-hung in Once Upon a Time in China

Jet Li, or should we say Wong Fei-hung’s, mission is to help fight off foreign invasion in Guangdong province. In this movie, Jet Li wowed the crowd with his magnificent fighting and acrobatic skills.

The Forbidden Kingdom

Hi-ya! Starring in the same movie for the very first time ever, The Forbidden Kingdom, Jackie Chan and Jet Li brought us an enthralling display of martial arts skill. While Chan unleashed the Drunken Fist, Li came in hard with the Mantis style.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Ama2000, did you really think we would forget about you? Made in the year 2000, starring Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, and Ziyi Zhang we bring you Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon an exhilarating martial arts movie. We give props to the legendary Yuen Woo-ping for the film’s stunning martial arts choreography.

Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, and Ziyi Zhang did a stellar job showing off their extraordinary athletic abilities.

In Bloodsport, Jean-Claude Van Damme played Frank Dux, a US Army captain trained in martial arts, who is invited to take part in an illegal Hong Kong fighting tournament. The whole cast gave us incredible fighting scenes.

One of our favourite scenes from Bloodsport's involved Dux entering into a challenge where he had to shatter a specific brick in a stacked pile using a technique known as Dim Mak. Deep in concentration, Dux struck the top brick, transferring the energy down through the pile, which causes the bottom brick to shatter. Ouch! If it doesn’t hurt, is it even martial arts?

Do you have a favourite martial arts movie? Hit us up!

Catch Snake Eyes: GI Joe Origins this Sunday, 14 August, at 20:05 CAT on M-Net 101 or catch up on DStv. You can also find us @mnetmovies  on Twitter, @MNet  on Facebook, and @mnettv  on Instagram.